A college student from Hanover Township, Northampton County, has won Lehigh Valley Music’s Something to Believe In contest for front-row tickets to see Maroon 5 at Musikfest on Aug. 6.

But she did it from London.

Tabitha Venkersammy, a Penn State University student studying abroad, submitted the first correct list of Maroon 5 lyrics that were hidden in postings on the Lehigh Valley Music blog for 10 days starting Feb. 18.

Venkersammy submitted her list within three minutes after the item containing the last lyric posted on the blog at 2:01 p.m. Sunday. That was at 7:01 p.m. Sunday in London, which is five hours ahead of Eastern time.

Venkersammy said in a telephone interview that she was surprised and happy to have won the tickets. She’s been in England since Dec. 31, studying British media and politics, and will return home in April.

Venkersammy won the contest by a whisker. A minute later, another entry came in with all of the correct answers, and within seven minutes after the item posted there were four correct entries.

In all, 16 entries were submitted with all the answers correct. Twelve other entries contained only single errors among the 10 lyrics.

Though it’s hard to say how many people participated in the contest without submitting entries, Lehigh Valley Music for the first several days of the contest saw an increase of about 1,000 visits a day. By Saturday that had dwindled to about 400, perhaps suggesting that many had given up hope of winning.

But Lehigh Valley Music received entries from as far as New York (three) and Maryland (five), as well as from Bloomsburg, Morgantown and Milford, N.J.

Thanks very much to all who played. I enjoyed presenting the contest, and I hope even those of you who didn’t win at least had fun. It told me there are some pretty avid Maroon 5 fans our there, as well as some great readers of this blog.

And thanks to ArtsQuest for providing the tickets.

For those of you who didn’t win, tickets for the Maroon 5 concert, at $39 and $49, go on sale to ArtsQuest members starting at 10 a.m. today and to the public at 10 a.m. March 4 at www.musikfest.org or 610-332-1300. ArtsQuest memberships also are available.

Also going on sale at the same time will be tickets for concerts Aug. 8 by Steve Miller Band ($39 and $49) and Aug. 11 by Straight No Chaser ($29 and $37).

Here are the lyrical phrases that were hidden in the blog items, listed by date, lyric, song, and blog item:

1. Feb. 18 - "And she will be loved" (She Will Be Loved) See who's selling well -- and who's not -- for new SteelStacks shows

For February 21st you posted the answer as "say goodbye too many times before". The CORRECT lyric is "SAID goodbye too many times before."

Posted By: Elizabeth Weinstein | Mar 1, 2011 1:47:51 AM

Thank you so much Morning Call! I'm so glad to have won the contest! I'm very excited about the concert and this is a dream come true for me! Thank you again!

Posted By: Tabitha | Mar 1, 2011 4:34:38 AM

I was thinking the same thing as Elizabeth. It isn't "SAY" Goodbye it is "SAID" Goodbye. That means the entry should just read "Goodbye to many times before" without the word "Say" at the beginning.

Posted By: Shawna | Mar 1, 2011 7:37:37 AM

Congratulations to Tabitha. And I have to agree with Elizabeth and Shawna about the lyrics, even though I know the judges decision is final. I was one of the Maryland entries and got the last one wrong. I think it was because I was overanxious! I'm getting my tickets today. I will be there, with bells on, even though it won't be in the front row :-( It was fun.

Posted By: Mama Stef | Mar 1, 2011 8:00:14 AM

ELIZABETH, STOP YOUR WHINING.
You are constantly being a 'Debbie Downer' about this whole thing, trying to ruin a percectly good contest. I hope that the Morning Call/MOSER will do MANY! Congrats Tabitha. Happy 4 you!

Posted By: CynicalGirl | Mar 1, 2011 2:13:10 PM

Congrats Tabitha! I think it mainly boiled down to being quick on the trigger to get the entries in immediately - and, Tabitha, you were ALL OVER THAT THING GIRL!! Yep it was fun - thanks to MCall for the contest.
PS: I hate to say it, but I wonder if Tabitha didn't use a little witchcraft to get her entry in so fast?? LOL, she's prob too young to even "get" that. It's just a joke about an old TV show honey. :-)

Posted By: Donk | Mar 1, 2011 10:41:58 PM

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JOHN J. MOSER has been around long enough to have seen the original Ramones in a small club in New Jersey, U2 from the fourth row of a theater and Bob Dylan's born-again tours. But he also has the number for All-American Rejects' Nick Wheeler on his cell phone, wrote the first story ever done on Jack's Mannequin and hung out in Wiz Khalifa's hotel room.

OTHER CONTRIBUTORS

JODI DUCKETT: As The Morning Call's assistant features editor responsible for entertainment, she spends a lot of time surveying the music landscape and sizing up the Valley's festivals and club scene. She's no expert, but enjoys it all — especially artists who resonated in her younger years, such as Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, Tracy Chapman, Santana and Joni Mitchell.

KATHY LAUER-WILLIAMS enjoys all types of music, from roots rock and folk to classical and opera. Music has been a constant backdrop to her life since she first sat on the steps listening to her mother’s Broadway LPs when she was 2. Since becoming a mother herself, she has become well-versed on the growing genre of kindie rock and, with her son in tow, can boast she has seen a majority of the current kid’s performers from Dan Zanes to They Might Be Giants.

STEPHANIE SIGAFOOS: A Jersey native raised in Northeast PA, she was reared in a house littered with 8-tracks, 45s and cassette tapes of The Beatles, Elvis, Meatloaf and Billy Joel. She also grew up on the sounds of Reba McEntire, Garth Brooks and Tim McGraw and can be found traversing the countryside in search of the sounds of a steel guitar. A fan of today's 'new country,' she digs mainstream/country-pop crossovers like Lady Antebellum and Sugarland and other artists that illustrate the genre's diversity.